Optimizing Oncology Nurses Knowledge on Neutropenic Diet and Food Safety Standards through Evaluation and Education

Topic Significance & Study Purpose/Background/Rationale Inconsistencies on the nurses’ interpretation of neutropenic diet can lead to patients obtaining misinformation on food safety standards and foods permitted on the diet. The purpose of this quality improvement project (QIP) is to identify University of Miami Hospital and Clinic's (UMHC) nurses’ understanding of the neutropenic diet, safe food handling, and to provide cohesive education to the nurses. Methods, Intervention, & Analysis Identical, 17-question pre and post surveys were created to ascertain nurse's knowledge on foods allowed on the facility's neutropenic diet and USDA's food safety standards. The pre-survey was administered to 46 UMHC oncology nurses from inpatient stem cell transplant and hematology/oncology. Subsequent education was provided by the nurse practitioner and dieticians on both topics, followed by a post-survey. Findings & Interpretation Among the UMHC's oncology nurses the averaged overall pre-survey's score revealed that 56.3% of questions were answered correctly based on the facility's neutropenic diet and national standards of food safety, compared to the post survey's 85.2% (Figure 1). Nurses had more difficulty correctly answering which foods are allowed on neutropenic diet, general food safety and temperature control questions versus cross contamination and preparation/wash questions (Table 1). Discussion & Implications Inconsistencies of UMHC nurse's knowledge regarding foods allowed on neutropenic diets and food safety standards were identified. Providing education improved nurses’ knowledge which could decrease patient misinformation and potentially minimize patient's risk. It is important to implement routine education to nurses to decrease risk of food borne illnesses to this vulnerable population.